"Another failure!"
Kibutsuji Muzan violently crushed the porcelain jar in his hand. Inside was a medicinal concoction he had been testing as a potential substitute for the Blue Spider Lily.
Pure killing intent swirled within his scarlet eyes, causing the temperature in the room to plummet in an instant. Even the irritating drone of the cicadas outside fell into a deathly silence.
In the corner of the room, Nakime remained perfectly still, her head bowed low, not daring to make even the slightest eye contact with her master.
His fury wasn't merely due to Akaza's poor performance. In Muzan's eyes, while Akaza had been careless, the real problem didn't lie with Akaza himself.
Centuries ago, when he turned Akaza into a demon, Muzan had discovered that although the man had lost the will to live, his lingering memories fiercely resisted the demon cells. To ensure total control, Muzan had used specific means to systematically wipe Akaza's past, leaving behind only the temperament of a loyal hound.
Over the years, Akaza had indeed served him with the devotion of a dog, doing everything asked of him with absolute dedication. He was perhaps the finest subordinate Muzan had ever acquired.
However... Muzan had long noticed that even with his memories erased, certain things etched into Akaza's very bones remained unchangeable. No matter the order, Akaza refused to eat women. Even when Muzan threatened to crush his skull, Akaza would not open his mouth to consume the flesh of a woman.
Seeing such stubbornness, Muzan had eventually let it be. After all, he couldn't very well kill one of his strongest assets over a dietary quirk; he simply viewed it as a primal instinct lingering in the physical flesh.
But today, through Akaza's eyes, he saw the possibility of those suppressed memories resurfacing. A single, tiny wedge—a mere comment—was all it took to make his loyal hound waver in the heat of battle!
It was utterly unforgivable! It seemed Akaza's "memory processing" required further refinement.
Yet, as troubling as that was, what Muzan truly loathed—and even feared—was that blade. That burning red steel. No demon knew the terror of that color better than he.
Hundreds of years ago, he had been carved apart by such a weapon. In a single heartbeat, that man had used a blade like that to slice him into more than 1,700 fragments. Wherever that red edge touched, his flesh burned as if under the sun, rendering regeneration impossible. Even now, centuries later, those ancient wounds still throbbed with a ghostly ache.
Recalling the face of that man from the past, Muzan instinctively clutched at his own body. The terror of death—the fear that he might be swallowed by the sun at any moment—surged back to haunt him once more.
Muzan's scarlet pupils contracted sharply, his fingernails digging deep into his arms. It was as if he could still feel the jagged, agonizing wounds through the passage of centuries.
Again, that repulsive red blade. Again, that sickening color!
But that wasn't the end of it. While red blades were rare, a few Hashira had managed to manifest them over the years; they were not an unprecedented threat. What truly terrified Muzan was Izumi Kiyowa's near-miraculous swordsmanship and the specific method he used to turn the blade red.
He had only ever seen such skill in one other person.
The man who had forced him to blow himself apart just to escape with his life hundreds of years ago.
Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
The image of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, wearing his hanafuda earrings, and the silhouette of the unknown boy on the cliff as he swung his sword, almost seemed to overlap in Muzan's mind. Though their raw power was worlds apart, their essence was the same. The ability to burn a Nichirin Blade to a brilliant red, the power to fundamentally suppress a demon's regeneration, and that terrifying, divine swordsmanship—they were cut from the same cloth.
"Why?! Why does such a thing still exist in the era after that man's death?!"
Muzan was a coward at his core; he feared death above all else. The traits Izumi Kiyowa displayed caused that dormant terror to wake up screaming.
He wanted to roar, to vent his fury, but with Nakime still in the corner, he forced himself to suppress the urge. Yet the killing intent radiating from him was palpable, coiling through the sweltering summer night like a layer of frost.
Akaza's wavering was frustrating, but it was an internal issue—a mistake Muzan could fix. But that Demon Slayer who could turn his blade red? The potential he showed was an external crisis that threatened the very survival of Kibutsuji Muzan.
Previous Hashira who had achieved red blades were rare, isolated cases—unrepeatable flukes that posed no systemic threat. But this boy was different. With such meager physical strength, he had managed to turn a blade red purely through the sheer height of his technique!
What would happen if this knowledge was passed down?
Muzan didn't dare imagine it. If that Demon Slayer lived, his talent might allow the secret of the red blade to spread throughout the entire Corps. What if those bastards found his hiding place? What if another Yoriichi appeared among them? What if his regeneration was permanently neutralized?!
Damn it!
Visions of his own death flashed before his eyes, nearly driving Muzan to summon all the Upper Moons immediately. However, as he calmed down, his cold logic regained the upper hand.
The boy was still pathetically weak. He was a genius with a sword, yes, but he was nothing compared to the Yoriichi of old. If he killed the boy now, even if the Corps knew how the blade turned red, they wouldn't have the skill to replicate it.
Through Akaza's eyes, Muzan had seen it clearly: Rengoku Mujuro was strong, but he was incapable of turning the blade red on his own. It was entirely the boy's doing.
At that moment, a clear objective solidified in his mind. He had to eliminate this outlier before he could trigger a transformation in the Demon Slayer Corps.
Fortunately, Gyokko acted on his own. If he kills the boy, I'll overlook his lack of discipline.
Fortunately, Doma is nearby. If he goes as well, three Upper Moons will be on the scene. Killing these people will be trivial.
Fortunately, those humans are so weak that even with a red blade, they couldn't kill Akaza.
Fortunately, that strange brat doesn't know Sun Breathing, nor does he possess Yoriichi's strength...
Truly, thank goodness...
Muzan took a deep breath, then returned to meddling with the drugs on his desk.
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Demon Slayer: Starting by Snatching Daki(103 Chapter- Ongoing)
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